Chapter 36: The Last Leg of the Journey

Date: November 21, 3007
Time: 23:00
Location: El Nath Region

A sharp pain tore through her skull, cutting into her brain with a jagged uncertainty. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t even see clearly. All she felt was her sister dying in her arms, her skin turning blue, her body losing heat. Aaru was dying in Annikabelle’s arms.

Annikabelle rubbed Aaru’s arms as she held her body, saying “Come on, sis, come on. You can fight through this.” But Aaru continued to tremble violently in her arms. A distant wolf’s cry pierced the air like the muffled calling of the devil, welcoming another soul into the fiery pits of hell.

“Anni,” Aaru stuttered uncontrollably. Her hands closed around Annikabelle’s in a vice-like grip, “Anni, I’m so cold…”

“Aaru don’t. Come on think! You were the smart one, you always were,” Annikabelle tried to smile but the muscles in her face just wouldn’t respond, “Think, Aaru, tell me what to do. Tell me how to fix you.”

Aaru mumbled something over the wind, but Annikabelle could not decipher her words. Leaning closer to her, Annikabelle put her ears to her sister’s lips. But before Aaru could state anything, Annikabelle’s earpiece suddenly boomed to life with a renewed signal, “Annikabelle, Aaru, status report! I say again, status report over!”

Annikabelle desperately needed Felix. His voice seemed to be like a guide for her as she walked through the valley of the shadow of death with her sister by her side. Somehow, if Aaru got into Felix’s hands, they would all be saved from this frozen purgatory.

“Captain, captain we’re at the base of the cliff. From the looks of the wrist-map, I think we are directly below you. Hurry please, Felix. Aaru is dying.” The howling wind covered up the silence once more as the earpiece went dead, leaving Annikabelle unsure if Felix had heard her distress cry at all.

But all of that seemed to be swept away by Annikabelle’s conscience as Aaru tried to communicate with her once more. Annikabelle hugged her sister even tighter and placed her ears on Aaru’s mouth. Out of her throat, came a jumble of muffled words, “I… the… sphere… beacon… attracting… end… mankind…”

Befuddled, Annikabelle straightened herself up and tried to make sense of these random words. But before she could piece together any part of the puzzle, a chunk of ice suddenly slammed down into the cracked sea, breaking open a huge hole which instantly froze back up again. Looking up, Annikabelle gave a yelp of surprise as more giant pieces of ice started to rain down like hail. She pulled Aaru to the face of the cliff and pressed their bodies against the grey wall. All around her, Annikabelle could hear the shattering ice blocks as they impacted the frozen sea.

And then they came, rappelling down the side of the thousand foot cliff with ease. The blurry outline of Captain Felix Shadeswalker appeared into view, followed by the rest of his platoon. Felix landed with a thud on the rocks right next to the ocean; his combat boots were caked in white snow, as was the rest of his body, giving him the illusion of looking like a ghost. The moment he landed, Felix climbed over boulder after boulder until he was at Aaru’s side, reaching for her other hand.

As the rest of the platoon landed unsteadily on the rocks, the blizzard grew to apocalyptic proportions, distorting the landscape into something out of a white nightmare. Annikabelle couldn’t see anymore; the tears in her eyes were blinding her as they started to freeze in the unrelenting wind. But through it all, she held her dear sister’s hand.

“Aaru, stay with us,” Annikabelle hugged her sister close, trying to warm Aaru up with her own bodily heat. “I can’t lose you, sis.” Annikabelle’s heart gave a sharp pang of agony as she thought of a world without Aaru. It could not happen. It would not happen. She knew Aaru was a strong fighter, and they would get through this, together.

“Anni?” Aaru’s voice was barely audible over the wind as it whipped across the face of the cliff. Annikabelle hugged Aaru even closer, trying to hear what she was trying to say.

“Anni…I… just wanted… to tell… you. I… I…lo— …” And then there was silence, a deathly quiet that shook the hearts of the entire platoon. The warmth was gone now, the last in this snowy tomb. For a moment, no one knew what was happening. But in her heart, Annikabelle realized it.

A million flashes of memories flipped through her brain. Everything they had been through, the laughter, the anger, the sadness, the joys, everything whipped by like a movie in fast forward. Einstein was right: time is relative to the observer. When something traumatic happens, time slows down. Annikabelle’s whole life flashed by, scars and heartbreak. It was a split second in a life time. Aaru was dead.

It took the entire platoon to subdue Annikabelle’s grasp on Aaru’s body as Felix tried to pull her away. Her cries were no longer muffled by the wind, but were carried miles and miles away into the frozen ocean. She tried, straining all of her muscles, to break away from the grasps of her comrades, desperately wanting to be with her sister. But Felix was out of sight now, and he had Aaru’s limp body in his arms, the last man to see her.

By the time Felix came back, Annikabelle had fallen quiet. She sat with her back propped up against the face of the cliff, holding her knees around her arms and looking out into the frozen white landscape. Everything seemed to be lost, to be broken and out of shape. The horizon was bent awkwardly in Annikabelle’s eyes, creating a sense of an unreal world, devoid of any rules. She felt a sense of anarchy rise from the bowels of her heart, as if Aaru’s death had broken the chains of a sleeping monster, a monster that took all of the platoon’s strengths to subdue.

Annikabelle felt the eyes of the platoon studying her, watching carefully, prepared in case the monster in her heart lost control again. She knew Niel and Rey felt for her the most. Sisters and brothers were not meant to be separated. If one was lost, so was the other.

“Anni,” Annikabelle cringed a little when Felix touched her shoulder. She hated him for taking Aaru away from her, for burying her when she should have done it herself, for leading them on this goddam mission, for listening to General Fenris, for everything he had done. “Anni, we cannot stay here,” Felix said, trying to appease her monster, “You don’t want to end up like your sister, do you?”

In her heart, she wanted nothing more than to die right then and there. Secretly in her mind, she wished a Lycanthrope would spring down from atop the cliff and rip her heart out. But she shook her head, and quietly replied, “No… no I don’t wish that…” She let her voice trail off with the wind into the frozen air of a world full of misery and death.

Date: August 15, 3000
Time: 15:00
Location: Ossyria Recruiting Hall

“Elon, Annikabelle” the gruff sounding recruiting officer’s voice resounded through the massive hall of the government building. Annikabelle stepped forwards as the man shuffled through her papers. Without looking up, he nodded approvingly and pointed to his right to a metal door. As Annikabelle followed his motion, she heard him cry out, “Elon, Aaru.”

Both sisters walked into the new room together, both scared to their wits and wondering why the hell they decided to join the army. As the metal door closed behind them, the once black room lit up in an eerie reddish glow. As the lights snapped on, Annikabelle saw rows and rows of uniforms, each powering up, waiting for their owners to transform into heroes.

But they were no heroes; they were two poor girls from Ellinia. Their parents were dead, their relatives were dead; all they had was each other. Annikabelle stepped forwards, followed closely by her sister. Together, they sauntered towards the rows of battle armor, each complete with a slim rifle at its side. Guided by an unknown force, Annikabelle soon stood in front of a uniform bearing the nametag, “Elon, A.” Right next to it, was an identical one, also bearing the name, “Elon, A.” She reached for it.

The uniform seemed to be a part of her. As soon as she strapped on her boots, she felt her legs empowered, ready to run at the moments notice. The suit itself seemed to make her stronger as it lit up red as she zipped up the zipper on her back. She carefully pulled on her gloves and they seemed to meld with her hands. Turning back to the rack, she saw her rifle, sitting alone with a magazine already inserted. Sighing deeply, she bent down and grabbed the weapon by the hand grip.

“Anni?” Annikabelle whipped around as Aaru’s voice startled her. Aaru was already in her suit, holding her gun like Annikabelle was. She reached out her hand and gripped Annikabelle’s, “Hey, don’t be afraid. We’ll get through this together. Just promise me you’ll never leave me alright?”

Annikabelle pulled her sister into a close embrace, “Of course, I’ll never leave you, Aaru.” Together, they shouldered their rifles and exited the armory to join the rest of the privates in the first day of their combat training. I’ll never leave you, Aaru…

Date: November 22, 3007
Time: 01:00
Location: El Nath Region

Annikabelle pushed forwards in a single filed line behind Felix, who was leading and testing the ice in front for stability. Thirty minutes ago, the signal from the Isis had suddenly beeped to life again, bring about an unprecedented arrival of hope once more. Now, they were on the thin layer of ice above the treacherous ocean. The cliff behind them was long gone, and the blizzard limited even the bright beams of the lights on their suits and weapons.

Through the blackness, Annikabelle could barely see the blue home base beacon pinging on her green wrist map. In front of her, Felix continued to tap the ice in front with the butt end of his rifle, making sure it could support their weight before passing over. They made slow progress through the night, but every minute that passed, they inched closer and closer to “home”.

Suddenly, Felix gave a sharp cry and fell back. A loud whip-like crack pierced the air despite the muffling wind. Annikabelle felt the ground shake a little, and then saw Felix running back towards her with a fearful expression on his face, “RUN!”

He grasped Annikabelle’s hand and pulled her left. Whatever it was, Felix obviously wanted to detour around it. But then, the ice cracked right in front of her, leaving open water ready to envelop her. Felix yanked her hard to the left just in time as more of the ice crumbled away into the water. Behind her, Annikabelle could hear the surprised screams of the rest of the platoon.

Catching a quick glance behind as she ran, she shined the light mounted on her wrist behind her. Her mouth dropped to the ground. At the same time, a hair-raising and monstrous cry broke free of the wind. Annikabelle’s eyes widened in terror as the same colossal plesiosaur-like monster’s neck snapped forwards and plowed through the ice back into the watery depths of the sea. Swearing under her breathe, she whipped her head back around and saw the rest of the platoon in front of her now, each of them sprinting as fast as they could, praying the ice below would not shatter, taking them down with it.

Suddenly, the ice and snow to her left exploded into shards as the monster sprang back up from the ocean. The ice sheered and cracked dangerously all around them, but Annikabelle continued to run with Felix in front of her. Another unearthly scream filled the air. Annikabelle took a quick glance at her wrist map: the blue dot was closer than ever now, about five kilometers away. The monster dived back under, quaking the ice once more.

The power servos in Annikabelle’s uniform groaned in protest to the speed at which she was running at. She was pushing her suit to the max, and it didn’t seem to want to take it. But she ran on, not caring if the power servos broke or not.

Without warning, the monster swam up right in front of her. Annikabelle felt Felix push her to the left as he dove right. The sound of automatic rifles opening up filled the air. Annikabelle swung her O-24 Omega Heavy Machine Gun around and squeezed the trigger. As she slid across the ice, she could feel the powerful kickback of her enormous gun push her back as it unleashed a stream of lead into the carapace of the plesiosaur.

But then, Annikabelle realized the enormous monster’s tail was sailing through the air directly at her. As the ten ton tail smashed down onto the ice beside her, Annikabelle felt herself fly up into the air by the brute force of the impact. Expecting a million knives to slash at her when she landed in the open waters, Annikabelle suddenly felt something cold and hard underneath her.

Her head spinning, she unsteadily straightened herself up, ejecting a magazine and inserting a new one. But then, someone’s hand grasped her shoulder. She whipped around and pointed the barrel of her weapon into the face of a tall man, hooded and cloaked. It was only then that she realized she was on the deck of the Isis.